Saturday, February 25, 2012

So, I did a little day in the life dealie yesterday, and realized what I didn't include: caramels. Lots and lots of caramels. I can look at the rest of the enormous candy bucket and say, eh, not interested, but when it comes to caramels? I want them all.

At the beginning of the year, when I made my "no work candy" goal, I contemplated this time of year (unusual work environment, unusual hours, tons of junk food) and thought about how I would make this year different than last. Last year I was in a weird place emotionally, I was working nights, and I ended up gaining ~8 pounds over a month. Eating junk, sleeping weird hours and not working out enough caused that. This year, I proclaimed, will be different. And it has been...except for the junk part. And the weird sleeping hours. And I could probably work out more. Sigh. I have been leaving my nails mostly alone, saying "like" less, and haven't touched a diet soda (even though they're everywhere).

Workouts for the week:
Monday: 4.25 miles (I think. I suck at writing stuff down)
Tuesday: 20 minutes on elliptical, plus lifting after
Wednesday: intervals
Thursday: Swim 1550 yards
Friday: Run 3.5 miles..., in 30:42!!! I don't know how I did over a 5k at 8:42/mile, but I did.

My runs lately have been shorter, but way more intense. I am not intentionally focusing on getting faster, but I'm trying to figure out what my real race pace might be for a 5k. 8:40something was manageable, although tough, so I'm thinking I still have some room for improvement, especially with more training. Nick and I are looking for a 5k in April to see where we're at since we've both been running more frequently and more intensely. And wow... we have a half marathon in less than 3 months. Should really get on that...

Friday, February 24, 2012

I love blogs. I read them wayyyy too much. Nick has commented before on my ridiculous google reader list. Also, I refer to bloggers by their names (Monica, Gina, SkinnyRunner). Does that make me a stalker? (answer: sorta).

Anyways, I love reading those girls because they show so much of their lives through pictures. I would LOVE to show pictures of my food concoctions or weird things throughout the day, but I can't. This is totally a first world problem, but I'm not able to take pictures at my place of work. Not at all. Not cell phone pictures, not real pics, nothing. That's never going to change as long as I have this job, so my posts are always gonna be a little dry. In addition, my gym is at my work, so I cannot take pics there. Woe is me.

I was especially reminded of this when reading Cassie's latest post about a day in her life. I thought I'd do it too, but it would be sans pics. Oh well, here you go:

This was my Wednesday:
0500: Wake up. Grumble. Snuggle Nick more.
0508: actually get out of bed, wash face, get dressed, downstairs to eat a banana and 2 hard boiled eggs. Drop one hard boiled egg in trash as I'm peeling it. Rinse it and wash it with a little soap and eat it anyways. Get lunch together, shoes on
0520: Back upstairs. Makeup, teeth brushed, and say bye to Nick. Downstairs again.
0530: on the road!
0600: at work! sit at my desk until 0700 or so checking emails, drinking coffee, and figuring out my day.
0700: go meet up with folks and figure out more about my day. Eat cheerios.
0900: in midst of work, eat an apple and a granola bar. Used to be string cheese with my apple, but I ran out, and am trying to cut back on dairy, so granola bar it is!
1100: eat peanut butter and honey on wheat and a big bunch of veggies.
1100-1400: workworkwork
1400: eat peanut snack. And maybe some other random stuff.
1400-1700: workworkwork
1700: go to gym at work with Nick. Run intervals (0.1 @ 6.0, 0.15 @ 7.5 x 12 plus 0.2 cooldown- total 3.3 miles... this was FAST [for me]!). Add on 8 x 30 seconds planks (middle, side, middle, side, repeat)
1800: Leave gym with Nick. We can carpool sometimes if we're feeling snazzy. Today was one of those days.
1830: at home. Shower. Throw Tofu Pups in the pan, plus a salad. Devour. Do a load of laundry and veg out.
2100: go to bed.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Only possible explanation for being gone so long. Oh, and I've been working 11+ hour days, 5 or 6 days a week. For the foreseeable future (my foreseeable future is about 2 months. Pretty limited). Waking up at 5 and not getting home until 6 (or 7 if I work out after work) is pretty draining. Plus, work has been stressful.

An equation:
Tired + Stressed + Hormones = I CRY AT WORK.

I also cry at home when I see pictures of super cute animals. Or watch a particularly emotional episode of Dexter. There's just a lot of crying. On the bright side, it is only a few weeks until daylight savings, which means I can run outside like a person instead of on a treadmill like a hamster. I say that lovingly, since treadmills have saved my sanity many a time...What's that? I go on night work and will be sleeping during daylight hours in a few weeks? Bite me, work.

I'm trying to plan something fun for Nick and I once this work craziness calms down. We did the cruise in December, so and I was looking at another tropical getaway, but I'm now leaning toward something domestic, not requiring a plane. Maybe a little mountain cabin?

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Run Monday: 4.1 miles, 40 minutes, TM
Tuesday: moved out of my old house... now to check out with my landlady.
Wednesday: ate ALL THE ICE CREAM. Ran 4.4 miles in 40 minutes, TM.

Cause and effect right there. Ice cream = speed. Of course, Monday also involved 2 lbs. of gummi bears and many, many Starbursts, and apparently those do not equal speed. Something about saturated fat makes running better?

Kidding.

You may be thinking, wtf Laurel, since when do you eat junk at all times? Since it was put in front of my face at all times. I have less than zero self control. The square root of less than zero. My self control's an imaginary number. I'm in weird work mode, where we're working long days (11 hours for me, 12 or 13 for others) and our boss provides us snack foods to keep morale high. And the snack foods are somehow inches away at all times. I think it works, until 2 weeks into this thing when no one can wear pants anymore and morale plummets at the sight of coworkers' heineys. We have separate candy bowls for chocolate and fruity candy, full size candy bars, nuts, cookie packs, crackers, popcorn, yogurt, string cheese, ice cream sandwiches, beef jerky (if you're into that kind of thing), rice crispie treats, and the aforementioned gummi bears. And those are the supplies purchased for the first week. Plus Rice crispie treats made by someone's wife, cupcakes made by a coworker, and the ice cream bought by my boss. Seriously. I hade a Rice crispie thing the other day just because I was curious. Curious got me a tummy ache.

I guess normal people would be ok with this, but I'm a dangerous mix of gluttonous and rationalizing, so I'll eat handfuls of gummi bears (75 handfuls. and yes, i know they have gelatin in them. bad vegetarian) and then be like "LOL those were carb-y but I'll eat less later!" and then my blood sugar takes a turn for the monstrous and I end up eating again in 20 minutes.

I'm ranting, so I'll end here by saying: last night on the treadmill I kept reaching down to get what I thought was a thread that was bothering me and rubbing my legs. It was just my legs touching each other in ways they usually don't because they're usually more muscle than squish. I solemnly swear I will eat less crap today. Amen.

PS: I started using the Mia by Clarisonic that my mother got me for Christmas. It made my face look like this:

WHYYYY do I have a zit now and I haven't had one in many, many months? Uncool, Mia.

Monday, February 6, 2012

I didn't watch the Super Bowl. I had to be at work at 5am yesterday (yay) so I was pretty spent by the time I got home at almost 6pm (yes, long day), and needed to make lunches for the week and generally get my life in order. Also, I truly do not care about football, although watching sports is fun, so the game would have been wasted on me. Thank goodness Nick went to the grocery store for me, which meant all I had to do was chop veggies. So helpful :)

This week will be settling into stressful work hours and hopefully keeping myself sane and healthy. I woke up with a tiny bit of a sore throat and I'm hoping it doesn't turn into anything more...

Thursday, February 2, 2012

I so envy bloggers who are able to take gorgeous pictures of their outfits, meals, and everything else in their lives. This is because what started as a simple goal to take a picture of my hair and how it got extra curly from walking in the rain to work this morning and after 7 pictures, this is the best one I could get:

Neckless wonder.

I barely even own a camera. During my unpacking activities at Nick's, I found a digital camera from maybe 2003? It was horrible and weighed a ton. It was put in the "donate" pile, although I pity the person who considers that a find. It was probably 1 megapixel, so I'm pretty sure most people could draw a more accurate picture.﻿ We also found a slightly more current camera that could not be turned on. It was pocket-sized and cute, but non-functional. Donate also- although the person who suceeds in turning on that beauty will be blessed with some pictures of my face. I really don't feel like I'm missing anything without a camera. That is because there always seems to be someone else around taking pictures who does a better job than I ever will, and I just mooch off of that person. I'm so cool. The rest of the time I get by with crappy camera phone pictures. Life is hard.

In other news, extended work hours begin.... now! And of course today my landlady called and said she has someone wanting to rent my house, so the perfect storm of stressors is happening. It'll be alright (I only have my couch, entertainment center, sofa table, coffee table, chair, ottoman, and bed to move... really not that much) but I have that familiar monster on my chest feeling nonetheless. Ugh. I'm still doing well prioritizing working out (most of the time!) and eating well, so I'm hoping that momentum carries me through the next 9 weeks!